2015 Les Templiers Men’s Race

While night lingered over the course, the men’s lead pack looked like a meteor exploded in the atmosphere leaving dozens of tightly grouped orbs streaking across the horizon before disappearing again into the darkness. Indeed, as the sky lightened, 15 men where still within 45 seconds of the lead in the charming town of Peyreleau at 23 kilometers. However, some top runners hung as much as 5 minutes off the lead while some lesser-known runners took it out hot.

The lead mob at 9 kilometers. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell

Another 12 kilometers down the course at St. André de Vézines, four Frenchmen–Benoît Cori, Nicholas Martin, Lambert Santelli, and early pacesetter Sylvain Court–and Tòfol Castanyer had pulled ahead of the field with Cori pushing the pace. Jonas Buud and another group of French runners were two minutes off the lead. Alex Nichols of the U.S. was 6.5 minutes off the front in roughly 20th place.

Benoît Cori at the head of the lead pack in Saint André de Vézines. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell

At the 3-hour mark, Cori took control of the race, building a two-minute lead and looking great 48 kilometers into the race at Pierrefiche. Behind him, Castanyer and Martin battled. Miguel Heras sat in fourth not much further back. Court and Buud ran in 5th in 6th, but were far enough back that it was now clearly a four-man race for the win. Seemingly out of nowhere, Nichols now ran in eighth after having been in 15th only 3 kilometers earlier before a big climb.

By the base of the race’s final climb at Massebiau (65k), Cori had a commanding 5-minute and seemed none the worse for wear. Behind him, Castanyer and Martin raced together with the Frenchman leaving the aid station a bit ahead of the Mallorcan. Heras was another two minutes back. The four leaders would remain in the same order at the finish. Meanwhile, Alex Nichols worked his way up into fifth after having taken third at the race a year earlier.

Miguel Heras digging into the climb out of Massebiau. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell

2015 Les Templiers Women’s Race

Where this year the men went out en masse at Les Templiers, France’s Anne-Lise Rousset made sure that didn’t happen on the women’s side. She led by a full 2 minutes only 9 kilometers into the race and extended that to four-and-a-half minutes by 23k. That quick early tempo helped spread the field and leave the favorites in the top spots with Ellie Greenwood, Jasmin Nunige, Maud Gobert, and Jodee Adams-Moore all around 5 minutes off the lead. France’s Jocelyn Pauly was the only other woman significantly less than 10 minutes off the front. A mix of Americans and South Africans rounded out the top 10.

Anne-Lise Rousset leading early. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell

By St. André de Vézines (35k), Rousset looked tired and the pair of Greenwood and Nunige were barely a minute back in hot pursuit. It was clear that there would soon be a lead change. Adams-Moore looked to be having a good time in fourth while Gobert and Pauly now ran close to one another in fifth and sixth.

Apparently, Ellie and Jasmin would yo-yo back-and-forth on the course with Jasmin moving ahead on the climbs and Ellie gaining on the descents, but at the high ground of Pierrefiche (48k) the Brit/Canadian had the lead with the Swiss closely following. Rousset had given up more than 9 minutes in 13 kilometers to the leading duo, but she looked surprisingly comfortable in third as did Adams-Moore a few minutes further back in fourth.

Greenwood took control on the final climb and descent to win by a small, but comfortable margin in her return to trail ultras. Nunige improved upon her 11thplace at Templiers from 2014 with her second place this year. She looked strong throughout. Early pacemaker Rousset fell almost half an hour off the lead, but that says more about the two top women as she still finished third. After finishing 10th at Les Templiers last year and sitting back in the early going this year, Cassie Scallon surged late in the race to take fourth. Meanwhile, Maud Gobert finished in fifth having run most of the race within one position in the rankings.